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Thanks Todd. My apologies for not looking up the data in your Excel file - I would have answered my own questions. Thanks for the clarification. Very nice design BTW . Your block seems to pack a lot of storage into a relatively small footprint.

tklimek

Post subject: Re: Custom knife blocks

Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:55 pm

Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2013 6:47 pmPosts: 80

SteveG wrote:Thanks Todd. My apologies for not looking up the data in your Excel file - I would have answered my own questions. Thanks for the clarification. Very nice design BTW . Your block seems to pack a lot of storage into a relatively small footprint.

LOL...don't kid yourself, this is a big block; you can see the comparison between my old block and the prototype.

But, I think we've used the space very cleverly to be able to hold a fair sized collection.

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

tklimek

Post subject: Re: Custom knife blocks

Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 9:05 pm

Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2013 6:47 pmPosts: 80

The final countdown…..

Here is the final piece of information for these custom knife blocks.

The blocks will be offered in 3 normal wood choices, and one exotic wood choice.

$400 (US) plus shipping for a block made with a core of Sapele and external sides made with quilted Sapele.Do a search on the Internet to see what quilted Sapele looks like.

As a comparison, the bamboo Shun block that you see in the prototype pictures was purchased from a Kitchen Supply store for about $80 if I remember correctly.

Also, the edges or corners of the block will chamfered, giving the block a modern custom look and making it a real showpiece.

If you want a block, send an email to John at: john @ lonestarartisans.com (obviously remove the spaces when actually sending)Indicate which wood that you would like and John will send you an invoice that you can pay via PayPal or credit card.

The cutoff for orders/payments is Sunday April 27th.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns, but please check out all the information, pictures, and measurements at this link:

In there you will also find a folder called "Prototype", that is the folder that contains all of the pictures of the prototype. The prototype is not designed to look "good", but rather a sanity check for all measurements and final fit.

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

Tpbrewton

Post subject: Re: Custom knife blocks

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:01 am

Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2013 9:48 pmPosts: 113

Todd - nice job on pushing this through. Count me in for one in walnut to match the walnut board I have from John at LoneStar. Should I contact him tomorrow?Tom

tklimek

Post subject: Re: Custom knife blocks

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:11 am

Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2013 6:47 pmPosts: 80

Tpbrewton wrote:Todd - nice job on pushing this through. Count me in for one in walnut to match the walnut board I have from John at LoneStar. Should I contact him tomorrow?Tom

Hi Tom....

Just send an email to John at the address listed and indicate you would like a block in Walnut, you can send it anytime.

He'll respond with an invoice.

I'm so excite this is finally coming to fruition, as I've mentioned I've been planning this for about a year.

Cheers....

Todd in Chicago

Tpbrewton

Post subject: Re: Custom knife blocks

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:34 pm

Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2013 9:48 pmPosts: 113

Todd - I just got off the phone with John and the order is in. I need one dimension if you could - the horizontal distance (along the countertop) from the rearmost point of the block (which will be up against the backsplash in my kitchen) to the point where the block is highest? I need to determine if the tallest knives to be stored in the highest row will extract fully without needing to open a cabinet door.FWIW, he believes any orders in normal woods will be done in a couple of weeks once he begins production.Thanks,Tom

tklimek

Post subject: Re: Custom knife blocks

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:58 pm

Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2013 6:47 pmPosts: 80

Tpbrewton wrote:Todd - I just got off the phone with John and the order is in. I need one dimension if you could - the horizontal distance (along the countertop) from the rearmost point of the block (which will be up against the backsplash in my kitchen) to the point where the block is highest? I need to determine if the tallest knives to be stored in the highest row will extract fully without needing to open a cabinet door.FWIW, he believes any orders in normal woods will be done in a couple of weeks once he begins production.Thanks,Tom

Hi Tom.....

I'm not quite sure I understand what you were looking for, so I took several pics with a tape measure in them and posted them into a folder called "Cabinet Measurements". I highly encourage anyone who is interested to look at these as you will need to make sure this fits in your space. The space between my countertop and my cabinets is just about 18 inches.

I found this on the web:

".......Add 1-1/2” for a standard countertop and 18 inches for a standard backsplash, (though some designers now want a 20-inch backsplash to make room for small appliances)."

So it sounds like 18 inches is kind of a standard between the countertop and the bottom of your cabinets.

My longest blade is a 270mm Kikuichi Yanagiba, about 10.75 inches long. In the one picture, you can see I am pulling out my MAC honing rod, which is also 10.75 inches long.

Todd - thanks for the added pix; they resolved my questions. We are good to go.Tom

John Loftis

Post subject: Re: Custom knife blocks

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 5:16 pm

Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:39 pmPosts: 49Location: Plano, Texas

Hi folks! Many thanks to Todd for all his work on helping to design the prototype. I think he's come up with a really good design! This has been an interesting challenge for me. I've made thousands of cutting boards, but these will be my first knife blocks. And as Todd said earlier, he and I have sunk a LOT of time into this to try to get the design right.

If you have any questions about the fabrication, please don't hesitate to give me a shout. I've got a fairly large commission starting in the next week or two, so I'd like to squeeze these knife blocks in before then. I have high quality cherry (amazing cherry), walnut, and maple in stock. I'm happy to make these blocks out of whatever wood you'd like, so long as we can get the wood quickly so that the batch of blocks can be made in the near future. Regarding the exotic woods, I just pass those costs on. They are what they are. But Todd was correct that the figured woods can get CRAZY expensive, particularly for a large knife block like this. By way of example, I got a quote yesterday for some pommelle sapele at $100 per board foot yesterday.

Unlike my cutting boards, my plan is to spray several coats of a protective top coat on these blocks. I could just use mineral oil if you'd prefer, but it seems to me that a top-grade protective coat might be a better way to go. It's more work for me, but I'm ok with that. I welcome your thoughts mineral oil versus a top coat.

We've had 3 blocks ordered so far. If you'd like one, please shoot me an e-mail ASAP and I'll get your order added to the batch.

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